The Flock Plus One
by amphridite207
Summary: Brianne Newport is just another Itex experiment. She has them believing that she'll do whatever they say. So they eventually release her from the school for her first ever real life mission; to Kill Maximum Ride. And she's not sure if she can go through with it.
1. Chapter 1

**So this is my first Fanfic! i hope you all like it! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride, all credit goes to James Patterson**

**I Make a Deal with the Devil**

I hear hushed voices in the hall. I wish I could make sense of what they're saying but so far I've only caught a few bits and pieces here and there, like "Subject needs more testing before-" (Story of my life, but a rather long one that I'll get to later,) more hushed mumbling, "Mission needs to commence-". Nothing I hadn't heard before.

Sighing I crossed my tiny room in a single step; seriously the thing was tiny… when I held out my arms they brushed either side of the room. It was basically a plain concrete box, big enough to stand up straight but not much more. I had a small cot pushed up against one wall and a small toilet in the other. It wasn't much but it was an upgrade from the dog crate, and I'd take whatever I could get.

The only way in was a two-foot thick steel plated door. I spent most of my day doing pushups, crunches and shadow fighting, preparing for any chance I had at escape. On the outside, on the other hand, I appeared as a good, obedient little science project. It had more perks than being rebellious.

I haven't looked in a mirror in four years, I have no clue what I look like anymore, but from what I can tell, when the Whitecoats come to get me, they're scared. I assume it has something to do with my muscle mass and ability to kill them.

The door is flung open. I know the drill; I flop down on the cold concrete floor and place my hands on my head. Sometimes when I'm feeling particularly rebellious, I stand on the spot, letting them think I'm too stupid to know what to do. Two wolf-like Erasers storm in. One pins me down, while the other cuffs me, and throws a cloth bag over my head. They haul me to my feet and push me out the door, just another day in Paradise.

I may have "lived" here for my entire life, but I've seen very little of the facility I unfortunately call home. The "School" is from what I can tell, super big, and near impossible to escape. The people here, from what I can tell, are training me for some important mission, from what I can tell, they think I'm almost ready.

I pushed into what I assume is the testing room. The yanks the blindfold off my face and I see I'm correct. I'll give them credit, although they may be raving mad scientists, they are consistent with their insanity.

My schedule is wake up when food is pushed through my door. Eat whatever high calorie, fiber, protein and carb meal they prepared for me. Conditioning until they come to get me, get pushed into multiple testing rooms, and take a small ten minute break for another large meal. More testing for the rest of the day and then more meals and then bed, I know, how lucky am I?

I'm standing in a sterile white room. I sigh; I've done this test a million times. "Mixing it up are we fellas?" I say sarcastically, staring at the Whitecoats across the room from me.

They don't say anything but I see them roll their eyes. "Subject 106528 B, prepare yourself for testing. We will commence with the cognitive testing." It's my turn to roll my eyes, I hate these tests, and yes I'm genetically engineered to be beyond smart, book wise that is. But small design flaw in their greatest success (Me) I get very bored, very easily. Especially with stupid cognitive tests, the physical ones are worse, and the examinations and "tune ups" are the worst out of all.

I pass the cognitive tests with obvious flying colors. Seriously at the age of what I assume is around fifteen, I'm on the same intellectual level of anyone holding any type of Ph.D.

"106528 B, prepare for the physical test." One of the Whitecoats says, leaving the room. Seriously these guys are like robots…

"Hmmm, how 'bout you bring me a snack first, _then_ I'll consider it." I say.

A team of five Erasers stalk into the room. They face the remaining Whitecoats with their backs to me. I see tattooed on their necks, clearly visible, their expiration dates. That's how I keep time in this hell hole, their expiration dates are always the current day.

"106528 B, terminate the subjects." I roll my eyes; it's kind of my signature,

"Again, snack first then I'll cooperate."

"Attack," The Whitecoats order in a monotone voice, void of emotion.

The five Erasers snap around and rush towards me. I immediately crouch into a fighting stance. The first two Erasers reach me and throw their fists towards my head; I swiftly block and sweep the first one's legs out from under it. I kick it, hard, in the side of the neck. There's a sickening popping sound and the Eraser stops moving.

Before you judge me, you should know, that it's either kill or be killed. The Eraser's aren't just fighting for the fun of it. They're thrown into what I call "the Bull Pen" just a few hours before their expiration dates. They're told that if they can defeat me, their expiration date will be changed. As far as I know, expiration dates can't be changed, but don't tell them that.

The other Eraser directs a kick towards my head, I duck and flip gracefully over its head, I land smoothly behind him, I grip the top and bottom of his head and give it a hard twist, its neck snaps and it falls to the ground.

Erasers are much taller than regular humans; they're about seven feet tall with ripped muscles. Their DNA is combined with that of a wolf, so they have canine features, like the snout, beady eyes and pointed teeth. They're inhumanly strong and fast, but not particularly smart.

Me? Well I'm not like the Erasers, I'm tall for a fifteen year old girl, about 5'7'', I'm skinny but at the same time, very muscular. I wish I could tell you what I look like but I really don't know all I can tell you for sure is that I have blondish brown hair. I'd tell you more but there's a pack of three Erasers trying to kill me.

It only takes me a couple more minutes to kill the rest of the Erasers. "106528 B prepare for examination."

This is the worst part. I snap out my wings, ya that's right, _wings_. They're blue. Kinda like a blue jays, but paler, and in my opinion, prettier, and about fifteen feet from tip to tip. I lie down on the floor, face up. The Whitecoats walk forward.

"Remove your clothes." The first one (let's call him Bob) orders. I should be embarrassed, but honestly I'm so used to it, I'm not even affected by it now. They do a full physical examination. They do those about once a month; honestly they're just super boring. Weight, height, muscle to body-fat ratio, wing stability, stuff like that. Sometimes, if I do super well on the tests, like today, they let me into a simulation chamber and I can fly, or at least it feels like that.

What they do after the physical examination is so disturbing it would haunt you for the rest of your life. I live it every day and it still haunts me. Trust me; you're better off not knowing.

I sit on my bed still shaking slightly from the "tune up". That's when my day got interesting for a change.

Three Whitecoats walk into my room without a warning. I jump to my feet in a defensive stance and turn to glare at them.

"You know the drill," The middle one says. Could I have beaten the snot out of them? Could I have killed them? Uh duh, was I going to? Not at the moment.

I lay down on the floor and they cuff me, and force, yet another bag over my head.

I'm led down a series of hallways and through a door, where they pull the bag off my head. They shove me into a room with only a table and two chairs. "Sit." One of the whitecoats orders, and instead of waiting for me to comply, pushes me roughly down into the chair.

Two erasers walk into the room and stand in the corners, closely followed by a tall man in a suit and tie.

"You can un-cuff her." The suit guy says after sitting across from me to the whitecoats. They look like they want to advise him against it, but don't argue. Damn straight they should argue. I could kill everyone in this room easily. "Leave us." The suit guy says, waving away the whitecoats, who don't exactly look sad to leave.

"So 106528 B," The suit guy says pulling out a file and thumbing through it. "You seem to be quite the little mutant."

I say nothing, just raise my eyebrows. "I am aware of the test you went through today, but I would like you to show me your wings."

I give him a funny look, and slowly extend my wings through the built in slits in my shirt. Pale blue and fifteen feet long my wings are defiantly beautiful. The man in the suit seems to agree as he doesn't say anything for a moment, just stares until I clear my throat.

"And they are quite functional?"

Keeping up with my silent routine I only nod. "And you have been trained in martial arts?" I nod curtly again. "And your intelligence and strength levels are off the charts?" Guess what? I nodded again.

"Well then 105628 B, it's time for final testing."

I was so shocked that I forgot my silent routine. "Time for _what_?" I say not even bothering to hide my surprise.

"So you do know how to speak? Good. It's time for your final test. It will take place in a mission simulator."

"Whoopdido, and what is this mission exactly?"

"You've been engineered to be more intelligent than most people on the planet. You've been trained to be the ultimate assassin, what do you think the mission is?"

Needless to say I went back to the silent treatment.

"106528 B please, relax." I'm so stunned I actually do what they say for a second, before resuming my stance. It's the nicest thing I think has ever been said to me.

"The Director wishes to speak with you." I move to lie down on the floor, "Oh no, that's ok 106528 B, we'll show you the way." I run through the possible reasons for this situation to be occurring, either the School is about to blow up, or I passed the final test and am ready for my "Mission" most likely the second one, they would probably leave me here if the School was going to blow up.

Just to clarify, the final test, was not a pleasant experience, the simulator placed me in a public place, full of people, like Times Square for instance, and then I would be handed pictures of people throughout the square, one at a time, then I would have to kill them. Silently, stealthily, and most of all just not get caught. I obviously did a good job or the whitecoats would be here to "retire" me instead of being so strangely nice.

For the first time I see the outside of a lab room and my "room". I have to say, it's not as impressive as I was hoping. Just long white hallways with several doors leading off in different directions.

We pass through different corridors, going this way and that. I try to memorize the route perfectly. We finally end up in a large conference room, you know the ones that they hold board meetings at and stuff like that at.

Sitting around the table, in identical positions; hands interlocked, resting on the table, are six adults, three female, three male, and at the head of the table, one woman sits at the head of the table her hands clasped in front of her. I instantly dislike her. Maybe it's just the ice cold look in her eyes. The moment I step through the door all of their heads snap around to look at me.

"Ah Subject 106528 B, please sit." The Witch at the head of the table instructs, gesturing to the head seat the opposite hers. "Thank you." The Witch says to the Whitecoats, they nod and leave the room.

I may be sassy and sarcastic and stubborn and belligerent, but I'm smart too. So I knew not to argue. I just sat in the chair, and fixed them all with my _"you bore me so very much so make it quick before I leap out that window and fly off" _stare.

"Subject 106528 B, my name is Marian Janssen and I represent Itex."

"Interesting"

"I told you it was intelligent." One of the women whispered to the other. Evidently they were not intelligent, because that was positively oozing sarcasm.

"As of today you passed the final tests."

"I assumed as much." I say in a bored tone.

"There are a few things we need to do before we tell you about your mission." The witch says.

"Yes ma'am."

"First, 106528 B, the serial number you were provided with at birth is no longer viable for your mission." She passed me a folder, marked "confidential". I looked at her as if for permission. Jokes on her, I really don't give a damn what she thinks. The Witch nods and I flip open the folder. Inside is a picture of what I looked like when I was about ten. It says all of my information, my date of birth, my age, eye color, gender, hair color, finger prints, wing color, and name. Brianne Newport.

"The dates and names are fakes, but that's what you'll need to know for your assignment." I nod like an obedient little avian-human genetic hybrid.

"Second, we'll be releasing you from the facility, but not before surgically injecting a tracking device into your foot. We will be able to track you anywhere in the world."

I nod again. The other whackjobs around the table look very pleased with my compliance, even the director looks impressed.

"If you accept these terms, we will begin discussing the mission."

"I accept." I say without hesitation. "Whatever I can do to serve Itex," I thought that might be laying it on a little thick, but the morons were just eating it up.

"Excellent job with its obedience," One of the males says to the Witch.

"You think that's good, wait till you see it fly, or fight." The Witch says back, like I'm not even there. I want to say something, but years of conditioning have taught me better.

Marian Janssen turns to face on of the many screens on the wall. The others and I follow in suit. I see several figures flying across the screen, all moving very fast. They slow to a stop to hover in spot and I can make out three girls and four boys.

"This," The Witch says, gesturing to the screen, "Is the Flock." She hits a button on a handheld remote and the screen switches to bring up a picture of a girl the same age as me. "This is Maximum Ride, the leader of the Flock. She and the rest of her Flock have been causing trouble for Itex for quite some time now, killing off Erasers, Flyboys and others. We need her and the others, terminated."

I try not to protest, I couldn't just kill a bunch of kids like me, could I? I could turn it down, but then I would lose any chance of finding someone like me, and being out in the real world. "Yes ma'am."

"106528 B you are our most skilled subject, you excel at assassination, battle strategy, character reading, and mind influence." That basically means I kill people when they tell me to, and can get people to do what I want really easily. Whoopdido.

"You are four-hundred percent stronger than any normal girl your age; you could break the neck of a full grown male with one hand." The males at the table start to look uncomfortable when the Witch mentions that. Good. "We need you on this assignment."

"Of course ma'am, in my opinion the best option would be to infiltrate their "Flock" and gain their trust, upon gaining it, I would think it would be easiest to kill them in their sleep, starting with Ride." I say, hoping this is satisfactory.

"Good, 106528 B, go with Agents Dean and Warner, they will take you to be prepped for your assignment, you are no longer a test product, you are an Itex assassin."

I nod at Marian Janssen, promising to myself that I'll break her neck at the first chance I get, and then go with the Agents.

I didn't necessarily enjoy what I had to do to get ready for the mission, but it was better than tune up. First Agents Dean and Warner force me to get my flipping hair cut. It's short now, just a little past my shoulders, big difference, considering it used to be almost to my butt.

They hand me some fresh clothes, just white shorts and a blue tank-top with a grey zip-up hoodie and a black windbreaker, all with long slits cut in the back for my wings to fit through, I quickly change clothes. At least there was no pink. I _hate _pink.

"Agent Dean," I say turning to face him.

"Yes Brianne?" Oh ya they decided to start calling me that horrendous name so I could get used to it. I wish I could change it.

"I was wondering if there was a mirror around here."

"Would you like to see how you look?" He says looking surprised.

"I haven't seen what I look like in four years." I reply and he looks shocked.

"Come with me." I follow him down a hall and towards two signs, one with a little picture of a girl and one with picture of a boy.

He leads me into the girl's bathroom, there's a full length mirror in the corner of the room and he steers me towards it.

I look in the mirror and see a girl staring back at me, but I don't recognize her in the least. She moves just like I do though.

She has long legs, red lips, and high cheek bones; I guess you could say I was pretty. But I'm not focusing on that. I'm looking at the muscular definition in my arms legs and shoulders. I'm tempted to pull up my shirt and see if the crunches have really paid off, but Agent Dean is right there.

"Thank you" I say and leave the bathroom, still in a little bit of shock.

Here comes the part that wasn't so fun. "Hold still." Agent Warner says holding me down as the nurse holds up the scalpel.

"Um no thanks," I say squirming. "I prefer not to be operated on."

"Your foot's been frozen; we just need to insert the tracking device." I give them both a dirty look and make a point of not looking as they insert the chip into my foot.

A couple hours later I'm standing outside the Itex Corporation building with Agents Dean and Warner, plus the Witch, Marian Janssen.

"The Flock is currently in Arizona, Phoenix, staying with Maximum Ride's mother, you should be able to find it, and you have a perfect sense of direction." I give no sign that I've heard her speak.

"Your story is that you've escaped Itex and are on the run, understand?" I nod curtly.

Truth is my mind is in other places, for the first time in my life; I'm outside, not in a simulator or any BS like that, for real, for really real. I know there are places on earth that are just stunning but this is good enough for me. The high pine and maple trees of Utah surround me. This is also my first time flying outside. Needless to say I'm excited.

"Make us proud 106528 B."

I turn to face her, "I will."

I take a running start and then leap into the air, snapping my wings out, a couple hard downward flaps and I'm soaring over the trees in Utah. There really is nothing like it, it makes the simulator look like a child's toy.

I lied to them. It's not the first time. I have every intention of finding the Flock, but absolutely no intention of killing them. I'm free, free of stupid tests, and concrete rooms, I'm free as a bird. (Haha get it? Free as a bird?) Itex thinks they own me, they think they've finally created the perfect weapon to kill Maximum Ride, and maybe they have, but the thing about a weapon, is you need to know how to fire it. And about right now, all this weapon wants is a family. Even though they created me, they have no idea what I can do.

**So i hope you guys liked it. Sooo i guess i'll post the next chapter soon if this gets enough reviews :) **


	2. I Have a Disagreement with Some Drug Dea

I'm not going to lie to you. Flying in a simulator, it's easy, there's no currents, no annoying people to make sure to avoid, no planes, helicopters, blimps, hang-gliders, irritating skydivers etc. There are especially no bugs; I swallowed more than my life's share of bugs in about five minutes. That's when I learned to keep my mouth closed.

God it was exhilarating though, coasting on air currents, flying with packs of birds, and skirting in and out of clouds. I wasn't the most graceful flyer in the world, but I figured I just had to practice some.

I have this perfect sense of direction, so I knew that I had passed into Arizona. I'd gone really far today, my wings were starting to ache, so I started to circle lower, looking for a place to land where people wouldn't see me.

A few minutes later I flew across a small town. About time… I mean America _is_ civilized right? Anyway I was totally beat so I circled around the town looking for place to land. One of the perks of being an avian-human genetic hybrid (Jeez that's a mouthful) is that I have vision like a raptor. I can pick out the smallest details on the ground from ten thousand feet up. It's pretty cool.

Eventually I find and abandoned parking lot, there's nobody around so I tuck my wings in and dive and then whip them out again as the ground gets close, just like I practiced in the simulator, and come to a super clumsy landing, trip and land face first on the asphalt. Ow. I need to practice that.

Pulling myself to my feet, I do a quick evaluation. Nope nothing broken just some scraped knees and hands. It'll heal in a matter of minutes. I turn to leave when I hear an argument from around the corner of the building that I'm behind.

I stop to listen, what can I say? I'm curious; I've never met any "normal humans" before. And the more I listen the more intrigued I get. I hear two different male voices. They both sound rough and angry. There's also a female voice, it sounds small and frightened.

"I told ya Charlene! That was ya last chance to pay up." The first male voice said. I'm naming him Jimmy

"Yeah, ya owe us for that dope we got chu." Said the second voice, let's call him Paul, Jimmy and Paul, how intimidating.

"I told you! You didn't give me any dope!" Charlene says and starts to cry.

"Aww, would ya look at that, little Charlene's crying." The one named Paul said with a snicker. "What should we do?"

"I think we should take what's ours." Jimmy responds.

So classic scenario, Jimmy the alpha male and his sidekick Paul are traumatizing Charlene because they want money, drugs, sex, etc, seriously be a little more creative people. Either way I didn't like it.

"No please!" Charlene whimpered, I figured this wasn't the first time, this had happened to her, but I was going to make sure it was the last.

"Problem boys?" I ask coolly stepping around the corner. I was right, the bigger male that I'd named Jimmy had Charlene backed up against a wall and Paul was watching with a sadistic satisfaction.

The men jumped when they heard my voice, but as soon as they see me; a tall, pretty, skinny, blonde girl, if possible they get even more excited.

"Lookie what we got here," Jimmy says, pushing Charlene; who gives small yelp, into Paul and starts towards me.

"Leave her alone." I say planting my feet. "And no one gets hurt."

The guys exchange looks and burst out laughing. "Girlie ya chose the wrong day to play superhero." Jimmy says, continuing to walk towards me.

I shake my head. "I'm giving you about ten seconds to leave Charlene alone and get the hell out of here."

"How old are ya? Like seventeen?" Paul spits at me.

"Seriously kid, do ya know who we are?"

"Fifteen and you are a bunch of low-life drug dealing thugs with nothing better to do than torment helpless women, _duh_" I say rolling my eyes and curl my hands into fists.

"That's it. I hope ya have Medicare ya bitch." Jimmy said and charged towards me. I still had time to roll my eyes one more time at him before ducking under his first punch and delivering an uppercut into his chest, I felt the air leave lungs with a _woosh_ and he fell to the ground gasping for breath.

I'll give him credit, got to his feet and directed a kick towards my chest. I caught his foot and flipped it over his head, making him land face first into the pavement. He didn't get back up.

"You gonna play the loyal follower or are you gonna be smart for a change?" I asked Paul who was still trying to process what had just happened.

"Who are ya?"

"Why don't you come find out?" I said narrowing my eyes.

Even though Paul wasn't the typical alpha male in his group or just in general, he seemed to be pretty smart. He picked up a wooden board from the ground and started towards me.

"I don't know who ya are, or what ya problem is, but you're going to be sorry ya ever decided to stick ya pretty little nose into our business." Paul says menacingly and swings the board towards my head.

My fight skills go into overdrive and I duck and the board skims the top of my hair. I crouch and sweep his legs out from under him. See this is what makes the most sense in my life, beating up people who get in my way.

Paul goes down hard and I kick the board out of his hand and step over him. "Yeah I'm real sorry," I say with a laugh, "Now here's what going to happen, you're going to take your buddy here to the hospital because his ribs are probably broken, you're never going to bother Charlene again, and you're going to thank the Lord that I didn't decide to hurt you." I say looking down on him. "Do I make myself clear?"

Paul nodded looking frightened. He jumped up and scampered away pulling Jimmy the "alpha male" with him. I started towards Charlene who was looking at me like I was some sort of mutant… I guess that's pretty accurate though.

"It's ok," I say soothingly. "You're safe now; they're not going to bother you anymore. I promise."

"What- What are you?" She asks clearly frightened.

"I'm just a normal person like you." I say, fat lie, right there.

"You took down two of the biggest drug dealers in town, with no problem, you're fifteen? You're just lucky they didn't have guns…" Guns… hmmm, sounds like a good idea to me. They probably won't go anywhere without them now.

"My parents put me in martial arts when I was younger. Ya I'm fifteen and I guess I am lucky. Listen to me Charlene," I said my tone suddenly more serious, "Those were bad guys, I know you know that, I also know they didn't go after you for no reason, so here's what I want you to do;" I looked at her and she nodded.

"I want you to get whatever you need, money, family, a bit of food and get out of town. I want you to get clean and start again where those guys can't find you. Okay?" Charlene nodded tears in her eyes.

"Thank you. I will. Wait!" She says as I turn to leave. "You shouldn't stay here either, you need to get out of town even more than I do, and the bigger guy (Jimmy I guess) is Diego Cartel. He's bad news; he will hunt you down and kill you. Please you need to go."

I sigh, I could be gone in a matter of seconds, but something tells me I should stick around for a little while, just until I know Charlene is safe. "Thank you, don't worry I didn't plan on hanging around, but I think I'll help you get out of here. Let's go get your stuff." I say and make a _lead the way_ gesture.

"Okay, you look hungry; we can go to my house." Charlene turns and we start walking east. May I be the first to say that walking compared to flying, SUCKS!

"So what's your name?" Charlene asks as we walk down yet _another_ street to turn onto, surprise, surprise; another street.

"1-" I start to say but stop myself, "Brianne, Brianne Newport." I really hate that name.

"Ok Brianne, where are you from?" I consider my options, Utah is kinda the truth but I figure I should steer away from that. "Canada." I say.

"Cool me too! Where in?" Uh-oh… that's not good, I rack my brain for places in Canada.

"New Brunswick."

"Ahh East Coast, I'm from British Colombia."

I racked my brain for suitable answers, "Sweet." Was what I decided on.

"So where are your parents?" Charlene asks.

"Umm... I don't really have any."

"Why don't you have anyone looking after you?" She asked.

"I can take care of myself. You just saw that."

"What about food and a place to sleep?" I hadn't really thought that far ahead… nice job "Brianne" Seriously that name just didn't fit.

"I'm not really that hungry." I lie as my treacherous stomach chooses that exact moment to growl angrily. I blink innocently.

"Okay… sure Brianne. Here's my place, let's go get some food, get rested up and packed." I nodded and followed Charlene inside her one story brick house. It was quaint but beautiful and I loved it.


	3. I Try Italian Food and Flannel Pants

**I Try Italian Food and Flannel Pants**

"Eat or sleep first?" She asked me.

I thought about for about a quarter of a second, eat always supersedes sleep. "Eat." I say with a smile. I guess I've made a friend, I just hope she doesn't find out about my uh… everything.

"You look starved I have a couple frozen pizzas I could heat up?"

I have absolutely no idea what Pizza is but I'm in no position to turn down a hot meal. "That sounds great." I say and Charlene turns and starts to prepare the Pizzas.

"So how old are you?" I ask.

"You should never ask a lady her age." Charlene says with a laugh. Really? I didn't know that… Itex's training program clearly has some flaws.

"Sorry…" I say sounding genuinely upset.

"Brianne I'm just kidding!" She says laughing some more.

"Oh." I say in a small voice.

"I'm Thirty-one. It gets pretty cold her at night do you want some pants or anything?" She says glancing at my white jean shorts.

"Uh sure maybe later," I don't really understand what just happened. We went from me being the big person, saving her butt and all, to her acting like my mother and me acting like a child… _such_ a weird day.

The microwave in the corner dings and Charlene pulls out a "Pizza" and hands it to me. It's like a disk of break with red sauce stuff and melted cheese on top; looks good.

I'm not sure how to eat it so I wait for Charlene to sit down with her Pizza, I watch as she takes a single triangular piece and puts the skinny end into her mouth. I copy her and the taste is amazing, they should have fed me this in the School.

I easily finish off my Pizza, half of Charlene's when she offers it, a third pizza a couple cartons of milk and a couple pieces of pie.

"Jeez you have an appetite. How are you so skinny?" She says gesturing to well… all of me.

"High metabolism," I say and yawn, totally not a lie, I have to eat like an Olympic swimmer to stay healthy.

"Must be," Charlene says and walks me into another room. It smaller than the kitchen but bigger than my "room" at the School, it has a bed in one corner, a chest of drawers, a little carpet, a desk and a mirror. "You can sleep here. What size are you?"

"Size?" I ask confused.

"Like for clothes?" Charlene says like it should be the most obvious thing in the world. Honestly it probably should be.

"Oh… um I'm not sure…" I check the tag on my shorts. "It says Zero." I say.

Charlene gives me a strange look before leaving and returning with a pair of jeans and some pink flannel pants and a baggy t-shirt that would hide my wings easily. "My thirteen year old niece stayed here once, she left some of her clothes here." Charlene says tossing me the clothes which I catch easily. "I'll wake you up for breakfast tomorrow and then we'll leave ok?" I nodded and Charlene leaves and shuts the door.

I pull on the pink pants. _I hate pink_, I think to myself, but the pants are warm and soft. I pull off my shirt and sweaters and let out my wings a little. _Ahh, that feels better_. I pull on the baggy t-shirt and look in the mirror. It still seems strange to see a girl looking back at me.

I wonder what would have happened to Charlene if I hadn't decided to stop when I did… she could be dead for all I know. I like it here… too bad there's a drug dealer after my head. Luckily he probably won't leave the Hospital till tomorrow at the earliest. I wish I could trust Charlene. Tell her about me, but I can't trust anyone, I need to be fearless and hardened, but accepting a warm place to sleep doesn't make you any less fearless or hardened I decided and slip into bed. I toss and turns, not used to the warm comfort of a real bed, but eventually drift off to sleep.

**To faxMRperacabethP**


End file.
